Oil separation in food products stored at room temperature, such as peanut butter, is undesirable, as it may adversely impact organoleptic properties of the products such as attributes of appearance, mouthfeel and/or taste. For instance, the loss of oil through separation not only may be considered unsightly to many consumers, but also can lead to drying out of the peanut butter, making its less palatable. Emulsifiers have been conventionally used to stabilize peanut butter during storage against separation of oil from the peanut fiber in peanut butter. Monoglycerides and diglycerides, for instance, have been used as such emulsifiers in peanut butter. In actual practice, however, these usages of emulsifiers in conventional peanut butters have involved peanut butter products stored at or near ambient pressure conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,439 discloses a nut cheese product composed of ground roasted nuts, texture-modifying fat and dehydrated cheese, and having a water activity below about 0.70, and which is indicated as being suitable as a spread for snacks, and which can be stored for extended periods of time without refrigeration. The '439 patent indicates emulsifiers may be used in the nut cheese product, such as glycerides and lecithin. The '439 patent indicates that the emulsifier improves the product, but in some instances it is not absolutely necessary. The '439 patent also indicates that the product is suitable for use in a number of different products including whole wedges or blocks, slices, sandwich spreads, balls, and in pressurized or aerosol cans, although no working example is disclosed for at least the latter suggested application.
The use of pressurized cans to store and dispense edible food compositions has been practically implemented, most notably in certain soft process cheese products and artificial whipped cream dessert topping products. These pressurized soft products are typically used for garnishing other food items. For example, EASY CHEESE® process cheese spread has been commercially packaged in containers from which it is discharged through an opening in the container in a bead-like form. The discharged product beads have been shaped using a slotted nozzle tip to impart a decorative shape to the extruded stream of cheese product. A pressure differential is present between the interior of the pressurized can and the surrounding atmosphere outside the can. When the exposed tip of the can is bent from its normal position, the pasteurized process cheese is forced out of the can through the nozzle as a product stream as a higher pressure force is present inside the can relative to the ambient atmospheric pressure outside the can. These soft cheese products can thereby be extruded as a stream of soft product onto crackers or other food items. Additionally, DREAM WHIP® dessert topping products also are dispensed from aerosol cans as a stream of edible soft foam-like product.
However, such process cheese and whipped dessert topping products are smooth non-fibrous foods. Previously, problems associated with pressurized storage of more complicated food compositions, especially those containing mixtures of oils and high fiber content during extended storage periods, have prevented the production of such products in pressurized forms. Consequently, edible spread compositions have not been previously formulated appropriately to meet the special challenges of oily fibrous products when packaged under positive pressures.
There remains a need for new approaches that will provide stable storage for oily fibrous food products where held under constant pressure during their shelf life. The present invention fulfills these, as well as other needs and objectives, as will be apparent from the following description of embodiments of the present invention.